The wicked plotteth against the righteous, and gnasheth his teeth against him.
Psalm 37 keeps telling the godly not to fret over evildoers. Here it turns and shows what the evildoer is doing: plotting, and grinding his teeth in hatred — and the next verses give God's answer to it.
The psalm works by contrast, and one writer marks the shift from the psalm before it.
Psalm 36 shows us the wicked in contrast with God's character. Psalm 37 sets evildoers in contrast with the godly. The contrast has two sides. First, the present life, when the evildoers are the great majority and hold the upper hand. Second, the coming age, when God will remove evildoers in judgment and the godly will enter into the liberty of glory.
The plotting is not a response to injury. One commentator asks why, and finds the answer in the plotters themselves.
They plot against the righteous as the Pharisees plotted against the Lord Jesus (v. 12). Their hatred is so deep that it moves them to gnash their teeth. Why is this so? It is not because believers harm or threaten them. It seems perfectly clear that the godly character of believers is a testimony that grates on their consciences. They resent a testimony so unlike their own character, because it exposes them.
What does the grinding of teeth mean? One writer, commenting on the same gesture elsewhere in the Psalms, reads it as rage hitting something it cannot cross.
They gnashed their teeth — but it was useless, for God had set them their limit. (This, I think, is what the gnashing of the teeth means: a limit that galled them. They were aware of a fence they were not allowed to pass, though they could not see it, which God had put round His beloved.)
The same writer finds that limit again in this psalm, in the short section that verse 12 opens:
The second section is a short one, and it deals only with the wicked. It notes his hatred of the righteous and his plots, and still their limit. The Lord laughs at his folly and sees his end ahead. His sword, already drawn, enters his own heart. His bent bow snaps instead of firing. It illustrates the Lord's words, that those who take the sword will perish by it.
The next verse gives the Lord's reaction to the plot. It is not alarm, and it exposes our own reaction.
When we are taken up with how well the wicked are doing, we may fret and become angry and impatient. The Lord, however, laughs at the wicked who plot against the just. He sees that their day is coming, when, under God's government, the wicked will fall by the very violence they have used against the upright.
If the schemer's end is God's business, the believer no longer has to carry it. One writer draws this out of verse 7, which he quotes from an older translation.
"Rest in the Lord," or, as the margin says, "Be silent to the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." ... We have rolled our way onto the Lord, so the responsibility and weight of it are now His. Now we rest in Him and wait for Him to act. The wicked may still seem to flourish and get his wicked plans done, but that no longer frets us. God is fully able to deal with all that, in His own time and way.
Stephen, the first Christian killed for his witness, met men who gnashed their teeth at him. What the Lord gave him was not power.
It is still the day of grace; the day of judgment for the enemies of grace has not yet come. So we need, not power to crush our enemies, but grace to take our share in suffering. Stephen stood in front of enemies who gnashed their teeth at him and stoned him, and he looked steadily up into heaven to "Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Jesus is Lord in the place of supreme power, but He does not usually act in power to crush the enemies of His servants, and He did not give Stephen power to crush his. He gave grace, so that Stephen was so strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus that he could take his share in suffering. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he did not threaten or insult his persecutors. Instead he prayed for them and committed his spirit to the Lord.
- Hatred. The plotting has no cause in the righteous man. The godly life itself grates on the conscience of those it exposes.
- Limit. Gnashing teeth is the noise of rage meeting a fence — God sets the enemy a boundary he cannot cross.
- Laughter. Where we fret, the Lord laughs. He already sees the day of the man who plots.
- Recoil. The drawn sword enters its owner's heart and the bent bow snaps — those who take the sword perish by it.
- Rest. Roll the weight onto the Lord and wait; grace to suffer well, as Stephen did, is what He gives now.
The Lord laugheth at him; for he seeth that his day is coming.
Psalm 37 speaks to people who watch evil succeed and wonder whether God has noticed. Verse 13 answers that worry with a startling picture. The plotting of the wicked does not trouble God, because He already sees the day it will collapse.
Verses 12 to 15 form a short unit about one subject — the wicked man and how God regards him. One writer sets the Lord's laughter against our fretting:
Verses 12 to 15 present the Lord's attitude toward the wicked. When we are taken up with how well the wicked are doing, we may fret and become angry and impatient. The Lord, however, derides the wicked who plot against the just. He sees that their day is coming. Under the government of God, the wicked will fall by the very violence they used against the upright.
The plot, the drawn sword and the bent bow all turn back on the man who prepared them:
The psalm notes his enmity against the righteous and his plots, and it notes that they still have a limit. The Lord derides his folly, and foresees his end. His sword, already drawn, enters his own heart. His bent bow snaps instead of firing. It shows the truth of the Lord's words, that all who take the sword will perish by the sword. It is a clear example of divine government.
One writer counts how often Scripture pictures God laughing, and shows what kind of downfall it points to:
The Scriptures do not often represent God as laughing. Three times in the Psalms they do so, and once in Proverbs, and in each case the same thing is in view. If men refuse His mercy, if they mistreat His people, if they deny Him and His Anointed and mock His authority and His Word, God will judge them in due season. And He will not only judge them. He will cast them down in a way that makes them look utterly ridiculous, a laughing-stock to every created being. The "laugh" will be on God's side in that day.
The verse points to a day that is coming, not one that has arrived. One writer answers the impatience that this delay can stir up:
God intends to settle His accounts with the ungodly in His own time and His own way. He has unlimited time to do it. He is in no hurry, and He will do it in an hour of all hours most inconvenient for them.
Verse 12 shows the wicked man grinding his teeth at the righteous. One writer asks what provokes that hatred:
They plot against the righteous as the Pharisees plotted against the Lord Jesus (v. 12). Their hatred is so deep that it moves them to gnash their teeth. Why is this so? It is certainly not because they are harmed or threatened by believers. Rather, it seems perfectly clear that the godly character of believers is a testimony that grates on their consciences. They resent a testimony so unlike their own character, because it exposes them.
If God laughs, the believer can stop trying to settle the score. The reason given is not only that we lack the right, but that we lack the character:
The judgment which will end his career is the act of God and not an act of ours. It is a good thing that it is His act. We are far too small, too biased in our thoughts, and too self-centred for God to trust us with it. Our anger and our wrath against sin can never have the high and holy character that belongs to God.
Commentators read this psalm first as instruction for God's faithful people in a coming time of pressure, when evil openly runs the world; the same principles still hold for believers now. Waiting is presented as the surest proof of trust:
Patient waiting for Jehovah in heart and desire is the surest mark of trust. Circumstances may be in turmoil around us — violence and struggle. The soul waits for Jehovah's coming in when He will. The wicked may prosper; Jehovah has His own time, a time which is always right and sets all right. He may chasten for good. He may have plans He is bringing to maturity. He may be patient Himself with the wicked. He may have His own glory to bring out, and that glory is our everlasting joy. So there is no anger, no wrath, no fretting, no uneasiness. Fretting leads to doing evil, to indulging our own will in evil to meet evil.
- Seen — God notices every plot against the righteous; the enmity is real, but He sets its limit.
- Laughed at — His laughter is His verdict on the folly of it: the drawn sword ends in the plotter's own heart.
- Dated — His day is already fixed and already in God's sight; He is in no hurry, because He has settled the outcome.
- Released — Since the sentence is His act and not ours, fretting, anger and revenge lose their reason.
- Rested — Waiting on the Lord is trust at its surest: no anger, no wrath, no fretting while His time comes.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the afflicted and needy, to slay those that are upright in [the] way
Just before this verse, the wicked plot against the righteous and grind their teeth. Now the plotting turns into weapons. Two questions press. Why do the wicked hate people who have done them no harm? And what does God do while they draw the bow?
The whole psalm sets one group against another. That contrast runs in two time frames.
If Psalm 36 shows us the wicked set against God's character, Psalm 37 sets evildoers against the godly. The contrast has two parts. First, the present life, when the evildoers are the large majority and have the upper hand. Second, the coming age, when God will remove evildoers in judgment and the godly will enter the liberty of glory.
The last phrase names the victims by their way, not by their words. A dictionary of Bible words explains what that covers.
In the Bible this word never means everyday talk. In the Old Testament it appears in Psalm 37:14 and Psalm 50:23, and it refers to the walk. The margin reads "the upright of way," "that arranges his way."
Nothing in the verse suggests the poor and needy provoked the attack. Commentators trace the hatred to the effect a godly life has on a guilty conscience.
They plot against the righteous as the Pharisees plotted against the Lord Jesus (v. 12). Their hatred is so deep that it moves them to gnash their teeth. Why is this so? It is not because believers harm them or threaten them. The reason seems clear. The godly character of believers is a testimony that grates on their consciences. They resent a testimony so unlike their own character, because it shows them up.
The bow adds something the sword does not: distance. It can also fail the man who leans on it.
The common weapon for shooting arrows. Scripture uses it as a picture of the hidden attacks of the wicked against the righteous, Psalm 11:2; Psalm 37:14-15. A "bow of steel" means great strength, Job 20:24. The wicked are like a "deceitful bow," one that breaks when someone leans on it, Psalm 78:57; Hosea 7:16.
The next verse answers this one. God does not take the weapon away. He lets it turn back on the man who holds it.
This section deals only with the wicked man. It notes his hatred of the righteous, his plots, and the limit still set to them. The Lord laughs at his folly and sees his end. His sword, already drawn, enters his own heart. His bent bow snaps instead of firing. This illustrates the Lord's words, that those who take the sword will perish by it, and it is a telling example of God's government.
So what should someone facing a drawn sword do? The psalm answers with rest, and it gives a reason.
For the moment the wicked man does well in his way. Instead of growing impatient, let the soul rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Resting in the Lord keeps the soul from anger and rage when it sees the wicked getting everything they want. To fret would only lead the soul into evil.
Refusing to fret is not the same as refusing to feel.
We cannot stop seeing the sad deeds of those who work evil. To stop would mean shutting our eyes to facts and living in a fool's paradise. We should not stop feeling the wrongs, the oppression and the strife. That would crush all the God-given feeling and sympathy inside us, which is ours because we are born of God. But we should stop fretting, and stop nursing anger or rage about them. That will only land us in the wrong ourselves.
Commentators read the psalm as belonging first to a faithful group in Israel in a coming age. It still speaks to believers now.
The strict interpretation belongs to the godly remnant of Israel and the coming age. God will deliver them, and they will "inherit the earth," they will "inherit the land and dwell in it forever." But we can gladly apply it to ourselves too, with the changes that the shift from one age to another requires.
- Cause. The sword is drawn against people who have provoked no one. A godly life exposes a guilty conscience, and the wicked resent it.
- Target. The victims are named by their walk, "the upright of way." The attack falls on how they live.
- Method. The verse names two weapons. The bow pictures the hidden attacks the righteous never see coming.
- Reversal. God does not take the weapon away. He lets it turn. The drawn sword finds its owner's heart, and the bent bow snaps before it fires.
- Response. Judgment is God's work, not ours. So the godly keep feeling the wrong, but refuse to fret over it. Fretting only puts them in the wrong too.
their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
In the verse before, the wicked already hold their weapons. The sword is drawn and the bow is bent, aimed at the poor and the upright. This verse says where those weapons land. It also answers the question of every oppressed person: who settles the account, and when?
The attack never reaches its target. One writer follows both weapons and names the principle at work:
This short section deals only with the wicked man. It notes his hatred of the righteous and his plots, which still have their limit. The Lord laughs at his folly and sees his end. His sword, already drawn, enters his own heart. His bent bow snaps instead of firing its arrow. This illustrates the Lord's words, that those who take the sword will perish with it. It is, of course, a telling example of God's government.
In Scripture the bow carries two meanings — how the wicked attack, and how they fail:
The common weapon for discharging arrows. It stands for the hidden attacks of the wicked against the righteous. Ps. 11:2; Ps. 37:14-15. A "bow of steel" signifies great strength. Job 20:24. The wicked are like a "deceitful bow," one that breaks when someone leans on it. Ps. 78:57; Hosea 7:16.
So the snapping bow shows what the wicked man is: what he leaned on gives way at the moment he needs it.
The weapons do not misfire by accident. One commentator reads verses 12 to 15 together and names the hand that turns them back:
But the Lord laughs at the folly of such people, for He knows that a day of retribution is coming (v. 13). They may be fearful of the future, but they choose to ignore it anyway. They draw their sword, sure of victory, or they bend their bow. But God will turn their sword against themselves, to pierce their own hearts, and their bows will snap in their hands. So the pride of man defeats his own ends!
If the end of the wicked is certain, the obvious temptation is to help it along. One commentator explains why God keeps that work out of our hands:
And moreover, it is all so futile! The workers of iniquity are not going to continue for ever, as verse 2 shows. Later verses make this abundantly clear. "The evildoers shall be cut off" (v. 9). Again, "In just a little while, the wicked will be no more" (v. 10). But the judgment that ends his career is God's act, not ours. It is well indeed that it is an act of God, for we are far too small, too partial in our thoughts, and too self-centred to be entrusted with it. Our anger and our wrath against sin cannot have the elevation and holiness that mark God.
This principle is not aimed only at persecutors. It catches anyone who picks up the same weapon:
Anyone who uses oppressing power will be oppressed. The Lord will judge it, wherever it is found: "whoever kills with the sword will be killed with the sword." God's people are called to suffer, to endure evil while it continues, as long as God allows it and gives it power. If they take up its principles and avenge themselves here, they must suffer its consequences here: "all who take the sword will perish by the sword." Patient suffering is their place, as it was Christ's.
The psalm speaks first to a people surrounded by evil. One commentator gives their setting and the instruction they were given:
The Psalm applies to the faithful few of Israel in the last days. The calls in verses 1, 7 and 8 encourage that feeble few, who will be surrounded by evil of every kind in Israel's time of trouble. To the outward eye the wicked and the persecutors are prospering. They work out their own will, and nothing stops them. The temptation would be to flee. But the Spirit of God says, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on faithfulness" — on God's faithfulness, in the assurance that He would not forget His tried and oppressed people; and that He would in His own time deal with their oppressors. (See vv. 12-15, 17-22.)
- Drawn. The sword is out and the bow is bent. The danger is real, and it is aimed at the poor and the upright.
- Turned. God turns that sword back into the heart that planned it. The bow snaps in the hands that bent it, and the proud man's plan destroys the planner.
- Broken. The wicked are a "deceitful bow" — a weapon that fails at the moment they lean on it. Their strength is the thing that lets them down.
- Reserved. The judgment is God's act, not ours. We are too small, too partial and too self-centred to handle it.
- Waited for. The same rule falls on believers who avenge themselves. So our place is patient suffering, trusting God to deal with the oppressors in His own time.